In place of the hard-to-complete jumps, the game offers up some hard-to-jack enemies, keeping its old-school difficulty. There are several points in the game where you will feel as though you have found the end of the level boss, only to learn that it is just a tough mid-level baddie and you still have a while to go. Though you may eventually loose all your lives and have to start a level over, the game's difficulty feels just right for a platformer.
Every level offers a not-so-secret 'mojo room', signified by the glowing blue bubbles floating in one spot. Walking up to it and hitting 'B', gamers will enter a bonus area where Crash must complete tasks within a tight timeframe. If completed, they do give Crash a voodoo doll allowing you to replay that room at any time through the game's menu. It provides a nice aside to the level, but fails to deliver enough of a reward to make them worthwhile most times.
The story is your basic Crash-to-the-rescue to get his sister, Coco, back from Cortex. There is a slight twist, but to see it you will have to experience some of the worst voice acting in recent memory. Oddly enough, the in-game taunting that Crash experiences from the minions and bosses is clever, and frequently hilarious. Walking up to the minions slowly is often a very funny experience, as they chat between each other until they see you. The between-level cut-scenes have nowhere near the wit or entertainment value as the in-level work. It is the kind of obnoxious drivel that make Saturday morning cartoons seem like Emmy-worthy comedies.
Graphically, Crash looks a little behind the times. The levels and character models all look decent enough, but fail to deliver anything worth looking at. Just like the old days, if Crash is left alone for a while, he will entertain himself with handstands and butt scratching. The 'cute' factor of the series has dulled somewhat at this point. Thankfully, the tight controls have not. Crash runs, spins through air, and kicks minion butt as well as he always has.
There is no Live play, which is a shame because there is same console co-op, which would be a blast online. A second player can jump into your game at any point, jumping out of your backpack and helping take out any minions and baddies. It would have added to the replay value of the game, however there is still some joy to be had by going back through the game a second time with a fully-upgraded Crash at your disposal.
With the complete lack of platformers on the 360, Crash Of The Titans does not have much competition; which is good because the six hours it will take you to complete the twenty-level contest hardly feels substantial. It is not the slam-dunk comeback fans hoped for from Crash's 360 debut, but it is far from a failure.
